I really enjoyed it last year, I thought it was decent enough to justify the year out.

I haven't seen as much off season build up for the 2017 Championship, must confess that I didn't know it was kicking off this weekend.

Knowing that you're a Motorsport fan, isn't that a little damning of the organisers/ promoters??
I still maintain that rallying in the UK is pretty poor at promoting itself. Where was the radio coverage of this event? I've hardly seen the BRC mentioned on the popular motorsport forums. Why? It looked as though it was a decent event; if a little short.

I'll give those in charge a chance as its only the 2nd full season - but you would hope that in the near future the promotion (of events & the series) will improve drastically.

Chunder you are talking B0ll0cks. Changes had to made to British Rallying, following the tragic events on the Jim Clark Rallying in 2014. It is far from panic stations, just read the recommendations from the Scottish government. Their is still to be the Fatal accident inquiry into 4 deaths on Scottish rallies. Some of us still don't know if we will have to attend and some officials (unpaid volunteers) still don't know if they will face criminal prosecutions. So please don't tell me it is panic stations.

Having actually been on 3 rallies over the last few weekends I have yet to see any 18 yard boxes. Yes there are areas where we don't want spectators, but we are certainly not excluding them. On one junction I was at on Saturday we must of had upwards of 200 spectators none complained about being "hemmed in" Just as an aside one of those spectators was Malcolm Wilson.

So why do they have accidents and fatals all over the world without the insane restrictions?

My interpretation of that is, people die on rallies across the world, where" insane restrictions" are not in place. The "insane restrictions" are being put in place to try and prevent these events happening. So if you don't want the restrictions you must feel it is OK for people to die. Now I fully except that that may be the wrong interpretation. But the fact that you can't see the need to change does make me question just what you are saying.

Some of the venues that state no spectators, it is the land owners who have but those restrictions on.

Doesn't matter what the venue the rallying is the same things apply.

Maybe you and the people you Know could come and marshal instead. Just might give you a better idea of what actually goes on.

Some of the venues that state no spectators, it is the land owners who have but those restrictions on.

This is very much true of most of the events we do - they're on military land so they don't want people wandering about. Some events you have to provide a list of names of people that will be entering the site and show id when you arrive. It does mean that there aren't any spectators and our service crews are limited in what they can see of the action - but it does allow us to use the venue. It also explains why the circuit based events are popular - after spending hours waiting around in windswept service areas on old airfields and only seeing us flash past every now and again the chance to see us on a large proportion of the stage is quite appealing (apparently!).

Knowing that you're a Motorsport fan, isn't that a little damning of the organisers/ promoters??

I don't want to damn anyone unfairly but yes, perhaps. I rely on Facebook to keep up with a lot of motorsport and I know Facebook has a tendancy to filter what you see, so it's possible I have missed some press releases...

...having said that, if you look at the BRC page there doesn't seem to be as much activity (i.e. news stories) as there were last year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArnageWRC

I still maintain that rallying in the UK is pretty poor at promoting itself. Where was the radio coverage of this event? I've hardly seen the BRC mentioned on the popular motorsport forums. Why? It looked as though it was a decent event; if a little short.

Is radio as crucial these days? Social media seems to be the most far-reaching form of communication. I had seen some off-season talk about the 2017 season on the British Rally forum, though I tend not to post their much as some of the posters do seem overly hostile if they don't like what they read!

Details aside, I do agree with your overall point: rallying in the UK is not well promoted and, where the BRC seemed strong early last year (I guess as a push to launch the "new look" Championship), it doesn't seem to have been consistent.

Forgive me flag, but as a long time rally fan, some of the marshaling I have seen on forest and single venue rallies has been fairly poor. AS has some of the knowledge and dumbness of spectators. People lying in ditches outside a bend with a camera!!

A lot of crews had to rely on speccies to help them out at times in the past. I do understand why, at junctions etc you can't leave a post and there are lots of reasons why this can't be helped, but I have witnessed just as poor marshalling as spectating on a few rallies.

I have tried it and it is not for me, and there has always been this attitude from people who flag, that instead of mentioning it, you simply go and do it. Fair enough. But I simply want to go and watch rallies up close and every now and then be able to help out a crew or warn other of a problem to help you guys out.

Also, getting rid of fans on single venues has a minor risk attached too. If a crew is in a tricky spot and there are very few marshals around, but one or two speccys, it is possible they might be able to help, or at least slow others down. I have not done this, but I know a guy who has done this several times, possible saving an incident and certainly helping. You know how it is on smaller rallies, there can often be a couple of minutes between cars or several going by within a half minute.

So losing speccies completely from stages though safer for them and the ones that are a bit unaware, also means the crews and you marshals lose a bit of help. God forbid people simply help each other, we can't have that can we.

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This used to be such a vibrant place. Unless you are Oz or like 24h races whats the point now?

Agreed on both counts, it ,must be tough to get a full marshal suite for rallies so it is perhaps not a surprise that the odd one is a little clueless! Just have to hope nothing awful happens.

And most marshals I have met on rallies are decent, the odd little Hitler, but then I am afraid the nature of the job attracts that in some people. And you can find the same in car parks, airshows, scout groups anywhere!! lol

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This used to be such a vibrant place. Unless you are Oz or like 24h races whats the point now?